Thanksgiving is around the corner, and nothing promises to warm the soul (and stomach) like a plate of Pumpkin Ravioli! Italians don’t go in for the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. They generally reserve roasts for Christmas and pumpkins for pasta. But here at InRome Cooking we’ve come up with the perfect compromise: a hearty recipe of freshly made pasta stuffed with sweet, seasonal pumpkins. Read on for the recipe!
Ingredients for Pumpkin Ravioli
- 1kg of pumpkin (zucca, in Italian) or butternut squash
- 120g of butter
- 300g of ricotta
- 60g of grated parmesan (plus extra to serve)
- 8 crushed amaretti cookies
- Nutmeg
- Salt and pepper
- Sage leaves
- 500g of fresh pasta sheets (you’ll find the PDF for making them further down the page or you can just buy them already made)
Serves 2-3
*You can simplify this meal by seeking out some pre-made Pumpkin Ravioli. The best brand is Rana, and their Gioaverde Zucca Pumpkin Ravioli comfortably serves two people as a first course or one as a main.
Directions
- Peel the pumpkin and cut it into small chunks. In a skillet, add 20g of butter, the chunks of pumpkin, 4 tablespoons of water and some salt. Cover with a lid and cook the pumpkin until soft. Then leave it to cool.
- In a bowl, mash the pumpkin with ricotta, a generous grating of nutmeg, some black pepper, parmesan and the crushed amaretti biscuits. This will be the filling for the ravioli so make sure it’s seasoned and mixed well.
- Roll out the pasta dough (for instructions on how to make it from scratch, like we do in our pasta-making class, see the PDF recipe below). Put your pasta machine to setting 2 or use a rolling pin to roll that pasta out to about 1/3 inch.
- Cut the pasta into rectangle sheets – about 12 inches by 4 inches – and place them on a floured surface. Along the center of the rectangle, place acorn size shapes of the ricotta and pumpkin mixture at 3.5 cm intervals.
- Starting from the top, fold the pasta sheet over the filling and seal the two ends pressing down firmly with your fingers. Then start from one end and press firmly around the mounds ensuring you do not trap any air. Try and use the hole at the other end to push out the air.
- Using a Ravioli-cutter or a knife, cut the ravioli into squares and place them on a lightly floured surface.
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil. When the water is boiling, drop the Ravioli in and leave them for about 5 minutes. You can check whether that Ravioli are ready by biting into the edge of one of the corners: it should be soft, not doughy.
- While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a frying pan. Once it’s melted, add the sage leaves, turn up the heat, and cook for one minute until they change colour. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Once the ravioli is ready, remove from the water with a slotted spoon, place on a plate, and pour over the butter and sage.
- Sprinkle your Pumpkin Ravioli with some parmesan and buon appetito – you have a Thanksgiving dish with an Italian twist!
